I would like to thank Ana from Head of Zeus for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Zephyr (Head of Zeus)

Published – Out Now

Price – £14.99 hardback £4.99 Kindle eBook

From killers to conservationists, Carnegie-shortlisted Chris Vick tells the story of three generations of the Kristensen family, their history as whale hunters and later their mission to save the great whales and our planet.

Summer, the Present
Fiery and fierce, computer geek and eco-activist, Abi is holidaying with her grandmother on an island off the Norwegian coast. Having developed and befriended an AI device, Moonlight, she hopes to organise a global protest. On the island, she learns her great-grandfather rejected the family's whaling livelihood, instead creating the first whale song recording. Inspired by him, Abi and Moonlight translate the whales' songs and discover their stories. Whales are under threat, their numbers rapidly dwindling. Abi is determined to help.

Autumn, 30 years later
The world's ecosystems are collapsing. There is no sight or sound of whales. Abi, her daughter, Tonje, and a now almost conscious Moonlight live on an isolated island in the Atlantic. They search for any sign of whales, but so far there is only silence.

Winter, the Future
Tonje's search was not in vain. Despite climate crisis and the threat of extinction, there is always hope for the future, as nature and technology combine in a captivating, action-packed adventure with a powerful environmental call to arms. For 12+

You can’t help notice the changes to our world’s climate are getting faster. Records for hottest day of the year get continually broken; trees start to get confused with autumn and summer and rain when it does come can lead to violent storms and floods. All of this impacts us but also the flora and faun that we live on this planet with. One of the most symbolic animals we often relate to is the whale; something we have nearly hunted to extinction; found out is one of the most intelligent animals on the planet and then even now our increased use of the sea is drowning out their song while our pollution and climate change now poisons their waters. A startling reminder that climate change can affect the whole planet through our regular inaction. In Chris Vick’s intelligent YA tale The Last Whale we have a science fiction successfully exploring our history and future with these creatures while delivering a multi-generation tale of one family and their connection with these mysterious creatures.

Abi is going on a short family holiday to see her grandmother in Norway. Abi though is hiding a few secrets from her family. Although the bright but environmentally conscious daughter has admitted she has been expelled she has not told them why nor hs she told them about the borrowed/stolen piece of AI she has taken from her student placement. Abi wants to focus on more protest work but she finds herself getting unexpectedly finding out her family’s history with whaling and in particular her grandfather’s notes on whale song caused by his experiences in the 1930s. This starts the beginning of a new obsession for which her new and inquisitive AI starts to find clues to something greater. But Abi’s desire to know more pushes her and her sister Tegan into danger but also starts to shape her family’s long-term future as the world gets ever closer to a final collapse.

I really liked the flowing approach of this story and the focus on making us see that relationship between ourselves and the wider world. It’s subtle and not focused only on the science of either climate change or AI consciousness but this YA tale is more a miniature family saga that crosses over two centuries and is incredibly thoughtful. We see the awakenings of Abi’s grandfather who on his first whaling mission started to realise whales are not simply food and tool supplies but conscious – something that quietly drives him for the rest of his life but never in a world that was not ecologically minded go anywhere. With Abi we have a bright young and passionate protestor who as a teenagers see only protest as her outlet to her anger and concerns. Her encounters with whales start to send her instead on a path not just of activism but finding a solution and then in the future we meet Abi and her daughter Tonje in a world on the cusp of collapse trying desperately for one last mission to find a living whale.

Vick shows humanity’s arrogance and slow fall into decline and realisation of what we have done to our home very skilfully. In the past sections of the story we see exactly how humanity has taken everything for their own gain – whales are fuel, material and ultimately subservient to our needs. The idea of resources declining is then a joke when it is raised – we are masters of all we survey. In Abi’s time we see humans are technically progressing with AI, Wi-fi and yet we see the air-con is continually needed for ever increasing high temperatures and ice on mountains is increasingly pushed back. Finally in Abi’s future we see a wilder and more chaotic world; constant and unpredictable storms and we realise an atmosphere that for asthmatic Abi is making it harder to breathe. How the connections between these periods and human’s hubris plus what we see this means for whales is a sobering but persuasive piece of storytelling.

The magical aspect is Abi’s AI companion who soon gets nicknamed (very smartly) Moonlight and their bonding with Abi and development of consciousness is delightful if a little predictable. Vick doesn’t make it easy for humans to sort this out and indeed we see climate change isn’t a problem you can solve overnight and not without some cost to humanity, but their scenes and perspectives are entertaining and intelligent. Vick also knows when to move from conversation to action and there are scenes of peril and danger that really do flow and pull you into wanting to know what happens next. Sometimes we have to take a little on trust around time jumps as how somethings happened are never quite explained but I think younger readers will be able to work out the likely path the characters then took.

With an ever important message on climate change and a focus on doing things about them being really the only answer I highly enjoyed this story. I think for younger readers there will be much to discover and think about but also that they will be highly entertained by the quality of Vick’s writing. Worth a look!